Voltage supervisors target automotive, industrial applications

Chandler, Ariz.—Touted as one of the few voltage supervisor IC families rated for operation over the industrial temperature range, Microchip Technology's MCP131X/2X series, in ten varieties, is particularly suited for automotive applications. These chips offer a watchdog timer, manual reset, multiple combinations of push-pull or open-drain reset outputs, and factory trip-points from 2.0 to 4.7 volts in 100 mV increments for monitoring microprocessor activity.

"The MCP1316-MCP1322 voltage supervisors incorporate several attractive features on a single chip, resulting in enhanced design flexibility, reduced board space, and lower system costs," said John Austin, senior product marketing engineer for the Analog and Interface Products Division. "These devices are among only a few on the market guaranteed to operate within the extended industrial temperature range (-40 to +125&degC), making them excellent solutions for automotive, industrial and many other applications."

The new devices complement the company's PIC microcontrollers in embedded system solutions. As such, the MCP131X/2X also fits in with consumer applications, which include portable and handheld computing devices, plasma screen TVs, and DVD players.

Click here for the family datasheet.
The voltage supervisors are available for sampling; visit sample.microchip.com. Click here to place production orders. The devices, in a 5-pin SOT-23 package (2.95-by-2.8 mm), are all priced at 42 cents each in 10k quantities. The company also offers the Voltage Supervisor SOT-23-5/6 Evaluation Board (part number VSUPEV2) to help designers get started. The board is available for $10.